Quoted from Join_The_Cirqus:

Art as Shown by Andrew for Alien day intended for the LE’s to ship with

Quoted from Aurich:

I think at the time I said something like in a 10 minute call I got more done than in 3 years of back and forth BS with the UK heh. That's honestly my number one regret about this entire thing, Andrew refused to let me talk directly to Fox. I had no contacts, couldn't do a thing. So much nonsense could have potentially been avoided.
I don't think it was a stall tactic honestly, I think he was just a control freak. He couldn't stand the idea of not being the only person talking to them. Which was just so dumb, because working on pinball art is some side hobby stuff for me, working with big companies and agencies like that is my actual bread and butter career, I've been doing this for decades now. You're not going to lose your big license because dummy Aurich couldn't handle a phone meeting or an email. I'm pretty good at my job actually, heh.
I honestly suspect that Fox would have been very cool to work with in the end, it was ridiculously easy to handle that LE art approval. Ah well.

Quoted from Aurich:

It's almost like you haven't figured out that Andrew said a lot of things, before he was forced out of his own company. I just explained the entire story above, that video is meaningless.
Alien "LEs" are basically meaningless too. Don't lose sleep over it. If you like your 35th side art then enjoy it.

Quoted from Aurich:

It's almost like you haven't figured out that Andrew said a lot of things, before he was forced out of his own company. I just explained the entire story above, that video is meaningless.
Alien "LEs" are basically meaningless too. Don't lose sleep over it. If you like your 35th side art then enjoy it.

Quoted from Join_The_Cirqus:

Pinside Rule #1 Be Nice

Quoted from MK6PIN:

I've always considered this "LE" to mean "Last Edition"...
Mine is staying as I really do enjoy it (plays like nothing else I've touched), and that's all that really matters in the end....

Quoted from Join_The_Cirqus:

Agreed, the game is great for sure!
Full Throttle is also alot of fun too (Abeit a theme nobody really wanted)
BCD (Brian) ( a good friend) did a great Job on the software too on FullT
He and Ferret and David T knocked it outta the park for Alien

Quoted from Join_The_Cirqus:

Pinside Rule #1 Be Nice

Quoted from Join_The_Cirqus:

He and Ferret and David T knocked it outta the park for Alien

Quoted from BladeFury:

From what I understand is they only light with the factory wires when it's set to take coins not free play...Any LED mods I add to any of my machines are ran on aftermarket 12volt power supply I add inside the cabinet...usually i use a 12volt 5Amp power supply to run all my lights..that way i am never adding any load to the factory 12volt power supply...just what i have always done for piece of mind

Quoted from Join_The_Cirqus:

The LE Art that the Game was supposed to ship with stated 35th Anniversary Edition and was supposed to come with the Brian Allen Backglass
[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]

Quoted from delt31:

You're right - when I changed from free to play the light worked. Weird
ferret Anyway to get that coin door light to work on free play? would like to use it but also not have to pump quaters into the game.

Quoted from luvthatapex2:

You can throw 50 credits on from the coin door. That should take you a while to rip through them while waiting for a solution.

Quoted from bcd:

That's probably the best solution. There's no way to get the light on in free play mode.
Max credits is 10 by default, but you can increase it to 99 in the adjustments.

Quoted from Aurich:

I'm sure I've posted this before, but this was my original LE backglass design that was done with 'approved' assets, which at the time I was told was the only way to do things. I guess Andrew didn't like it, and I said well, I dunno what else to do, you've locked me into a box with what I'm allowed to use, we're scraping the bottom of the barrel here, I've wrung all the blood from these stones I can. And at this point we're years in and I'm sick of his shit and spending all this unpaid time on the game. So that's when he went to Brian and had him redraw my design. Suddenly hand drawn art was kosher I guess, I dunno, fuck Andrew and his lies.
Anyways, then the call went to not have a non-LCD version, and this one never came out either, just the rework to fit the screen.
[quoted image]

Quoted from Join_The_Cirqus:

Someone posted this cool side by side Backglass a while back....
Cool to see both styles
[quoted image]

Quoted from Roostking:

That backglass art so much better..

Quoted from MK6PIN:

Agreed, and thankfully, they used Aurichs version ( left) on the LE's , w text changed as he mentioned...
Bam!!...Lit the coin slot..Just grabbed 12v off the PS and disconnected the harness ( 12v bulb, obviously)[quoted image]

Quoted from MK6PIN:

Agreed, and thankfully, they used Aurichs version ( left) on the LE's , w text changed as he mentioned...
Bam!!...Lit the coin slot..Just grabbed 12v off the PS and disconnected the harness ( 12v bulb, obviously)[quoted image]

Quoted from Oneangrymo:

That under cabinet green lighting is pretty cool, can you tell me which item/product you got for that?
Thanks

Quoted from noitbe1:

The room looks great. Congrat.

Quoted from Ferret:

Please don't forget Kelly Mazurowski, who IMHO did an absolutely stellar job with the video assets in the game.

Quoted from jeffspinballpalace:

aurich now that things have cooled down and the pin has lost most of its toxicity - do you ever regret not keeping yours? or not playing it for awhile first? My guess is you’ll say no, but that is hard for me to believe on a gut level.

Quoted from jeffspinballpalace:

aurich now that things have cooled down and the pin has lost most of its toxicity - do you ever regret not keeping yours? or not playing it for awhile first? My guess is you’ll say no, but that is hard for me to believe on a gut level.

Quoted from Aurich:

I'm sure I've posted this before, but this was my original LE backglass design that was done with 'approved' assets, which at the time I was told was the only way to do things. I guess Andrew didn't like it, and I said well, I dunno what else to do, you've locked me into a box with what I'm allowed to use, we're scraping the bottom of the barrel here, I've wrung all the blood from these stones I can. And at this point we're years in and I'm sick of his shit and spending all this unpaid time on the game. So that's when he went to Brian and had him redraw my design. Suddenly hand drawn art was kosher I guess, I dunno, fuck Andrew and his lies.
Anyways, then the call went to not have a non-LCD version, and this one never came out either, just the rework to fit the screen.
[quoted image]

Quoted from Aurich:

No, it was the right call. I’m really glad people enjoy it, but I would just see things that frustrated me.
If things has ended differently, and we could have kept working on the LCD say, and there was room to refine some things? Maybe I would have wanted that opportunity.
We did everything without access to the game, flying blind. Would have been nice to adjust things after being able to play. So in that sense the toxic part is gone enough to be able to think about that.
But just wasn’t a realistic outcome, we don’t own the code and approval process etc even if we were willing to work unpaid. So how it worked out is for the best.
Honestly having someone compliment the insert design is maybe the best thing I’ve heard yet though. Details like that I could control, the small things where I didn’t have to compromise are what I’m happiest with.

Quoted from delt31:

I almost think the situation itself contributed to that in a weird way.

Quoted from daudioguy:

We had decentralized group management. Reasonable individuals working with mutual respect. Something dev teams dream of. I enjoyed the collaboration.

Quoted from delt31:

I almost think the situation itself contributed to that in a weird way.

Quoted from jwilson:

I'd like to back this up - finally got to play an Alien today at the VFW and the screen graphics are easily, without question, the best I've ever seen on a pinball machine. Absolutely everything about them are amazing - the video integration, the information display, the typefaces, the colour selections. Everything is crisp, clear, obvious. The tone is perfect, fitting the theme perfectly. I simply cannot say enough good things about it and every existing pinball company should look long and hard at it as the reference standard.
Also, the playfield art is really good, too, especially the insert design. It really works and fits the tone well. The cliche "world under glass" is like nails on a chalkboard but I'm not really sure how else to describe it.
Too bad Andrew was an idiot. Once the bugs were worked out this game would have been a smash hit homerun.

Quoted from Aurich:

Honestly having someone compliment the insert design is maybe the best thing I’ve heard yet though.

Quoted from daudioguy:

But we did what we could under the circumstances and I'm proud of what we managed to do.

Quoted from MK6PIN:

I love my entire lineup...and then there's Alien

Quoted from Aurich:

This right here, that was where the project was able to shine. I think the whole US team would be happy to work together again given the right circumstances.

I honestly don't think so. We would have done more if we could, there wasn't any real "adversity breeds creativity" aspect to any of it. In the end what made our process a success is we just outlasted everyone else. As people dropped out in Europe because they weren't getting paid or they needed to go back to their home country or whatever was going on (we really had no idea) we just picked up the pieces they left and took ownership.
In the beginning Wales controlled the game rules. I was pretty determined to change that, because I firmly believe the programmers should be in charge of that stuff to get a good game. And in the the end that's what happened, and Joe and Brian were mostly free to make things feel right. I think in some ways I was the bolder jerk of the team (this will be a shock to everyone, I know), and more willing to just push for that stuff. I'm confident I was right though!
Give smart people the freedom to do good work. It's really not a hard concept, but man, it can be like pulling teeth to see it happen.

Quoted from MK6PIN:

Your biggest win on the game was changing the airlock to the 3rd LCD screen, imho

Quoted from Aurich:

We had some more plans for that LCD, but I dunno how much it really matters.

Quoted from MK6PIN:

That's what I had referred to as "unused video assets" for a potential home use code drop. I think Kelly had mentioned some time back he wished he could have incorporated more of his video ideas...as is it's unmatched in pinball world.
Not many of these things even live, but quite sure there would be support (fiscal and other) to pursue. I'd be way in.....

Quoted from Aurich:

Yeah, the coffee can Queen was awful. Not Back Alley Matt's fault either, but the whole thing didn't work.
He wasn't happy with it, there were going to be issues getting it made in China, was just a general disaster. She was too small, the effect wasn't good, was just a fail.
And that's fine, the test is if you can fail and fix it, and luckily I was able to sell the LCD.

Quoted from bcd:

The coffee can ("Alien chamber" as I referred to it in the code) was a prime example of the frustration of not having a physical game in front of me to work on. I did all of the programming on the can with almost zero information about how it was constructed - no motor specs, no sensor placement data, and no pictures of it. One of the earliest complaints was that the wiring harness would eventually come apart after extended use - I had no idea how the cables were even mounted. The code was almost completely lifted from the Valentino mechanism on Full Throttle, but the mech wasn't the same, so of course it didn't work.
I could tell similar stories about the lockup and the magnetic tongue. Thankfully I eventually got my game and was able to get those working pretty well in the last code release.
I supported the change to the LCD mainly because I knew that it would give the programmers more control of the situation, and it did.

Quoted from dung:

Well, got my alien yesterday. It is in the garage for the moment. Had an interesting time looking at it though. We fired it up, fan was making a lot of noise that I will have to look into. Try and play a ball and first thing I do is put it in the saucer on the left. Game doesn't register it and won't kick it out. Game wasn't registering a lot of things and numerous coils were out. Look it over, reboot it, works fine. Anyone run into that before?
Need to get the plastic that covers the back of the playfield, mine has a break. Also need a new magnet core as this one is worn. Any parts I should try and stock up on? Need to figure out how to convert this to work above .94 code. I know the lightboards. I need to check the io boards. This game is full throttle number 100. Not sure how many aliens got out without an alien serial.

Quoted from Oneangrymo:

Is it a NIB or did you buy it second hand?
Just curious. I had a second hand SE, the guy who was previous owner did a hack job, took a lot of my time to clean things up.

Quoted from DylanFan71:

Could someone show/tell me where the leds for the back box go in the connector to the main harness? Had some issues and now trying to fix the issue. Thanks!

Quoted from dung:

Need to figure out how to convert this to work above .94 code. I know the lightboards. I need to check the io boards.

Quoted from dung:

This game is full throttle number 100. Not sure how many aliens got out without an alien serial.

Quoted from SunKing:

Congrats on getting an Alien Dung. You will most certainly want to follow this thread, as they document the process of bringing a pre-production game such as yours up to the specs needed to run new code. BTW - it's not a simple change, and will require many new parts.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/weyland-yutani-dedicated-to-keeping-3-alien-specimens-alive

Just FYI - at TPF in 2017, I purchased a pre-production Alien with Full Throttle serial number 108. I documented my entire almost 2 year saga with Heighway and Cointaker trying to get updated parts/machine. Cointaker did come through for me, and I did finally get a replacement, true production machine at TPF 2018. http://www.bradberryman.com/Pinball_Alien_2018.html

Quoted from dung:

Alright, game is setup. Let the headaches begin.
It is running version .94.
I have at least 10 leds out. At least 4 switches. I can start investigating those at some point.
Now the fun stuff.
It is on free play, but requires credits to play, guessing upgrading the code should fix that?
The game freezes on the skillshot quite often and requires rebooting.
The main display is showing the small display on the right side. This just started and doesn't do it every time you turn it on.
The xenomorph locks its jaw open while booting. I disabled it in software so after booting it stops where as before it just made a horrible noise the whole time.
It has red io boards 1.4b assuming these have to be upgraded. That is a cool 1k :/
It has the old computer so I will order a new one 240 there.
The xeno has a metal gear for the jaw which surprised me. Have not seen the stepper motor yet guessing it is the old style?
Need the back right plastic.
Need the leds replaced to the new style.
Hopefully I can get it to play correctly before I make the call on upgrading it. Do like the theme integration so far, but with so many switches out and it freezing 50 percent of the time its not much fun.

Quoted from dung:

Alright, game is setup. Let the headaches begin.
It is running version .94.
I have at least 10 leds out. At least 4 switches. I can start investigating those at some point.
Now the fun stuff.
It is on free play, but requires credits to play, guessing upgrading the code should fix that?
The game freezes on the skillshot quite often and requires rebooting.
The main display is showing the small display on the right side. This just started and doesn't do it every time you turn it on.
The xenomorph locks its jaw open while booting. I disabled it in software so after booting it stops where as before it just made a horrible noise the whole time.
It has red io boards 1.4b assuming these have to be upgraded. That is a cool 1k :/
It has the old computer so I will order a new one 240 there.
The xeno has a metal gear for the jaw which surprised me. Have not seen the stepper motor yet guessing it is the old style?
Need the back right plastic.
Need the leds replaced to the new style.
Hopefully I can get it to play correctly before I make the call on upgrading it. Do like the theme integration so far, but with so many switches out and it freezing 50 percent of the time its not much fun.

Quoted from dung:

I have at least 10 leds out. At least 4 switches. I can start investigating those at some point.
Now the fun stuff.
It is on free play, but requires credits to play, guessing upgrading the code should fix that?
The game freezes on the skillshot quite often and requires rebooting.
The main display is showing the small display on the right side. This just started and doesn't do it every time you turn it on.
The xenomorph locks its jaw open while booting. I disabled it in software so after booting it stops where as before it just made a horrible noise the whole time.
It has red io boards 1.4b assuming these have to be upgraded. That is a cool 1k :/
It has the old computer so I will order a new one 240 there.
The xeno has a metal gear for the jaw which surprised me. Have not seen the stepper motor yet guessing it is the old style?
Need the back right plastic.
Need the leds replaced to the new style.